Payal Doshi has a Master's in Creative Writing (Fiction) from The New School, New York. Having lived in the UK and the US, she noticed a lack of Indian protagonists in global children's fiction and one day wrote the opening paragraph to what would become her first children's novel. She was born and raised in Mumbai, India, and currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband and four-year-old daughter. When she isn't writing or spending time with her family, you can find her nose deep in a book with a cup of coffee or daydreaming of fantasy realms to send her characters off into. She loves the smell of old, yellowed books. Her debut middle grade fantasy novel, Rea and the Blood of the Nectar, is the recipient of the IPPY Gold Award.